`AlQuran Seluler' offers different way of studying the Koran
Sri Wahyuni, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Time or distance may no longer be an excuse for busy working Muslims to avoid studying the Koran or listening to the recital of the Koran, especially given that an innovative Koran preaching program is now available and accessible through both cellular and fixed telephone lines anywhere, anytime.
Introduced for the first time in June this year, AlQuran Seluler (AQS), as the program is called, is the result of collaboration between PT Spotcast Consulting, a computer-based communication consulting company, and Manajement Qolbu Corporation owned by renowned West Java-born preacher Abdullah Gymnastiar, or Aa Gym as he is popularly called.
"It offers you six minutes of compact yet practical analysis of the verses of the Koran daily, along with a murotal, or recital, and a plain translation of the verses analyzed," AlQuran Seluler president director Craig Abdurrohim Owensby, who is also the president director of Spotcast Consulting, told The Jakarta Post recently.
Spotcast has invested US$250,000 for AQS and provides the company with the media and management technology, while MQ Corporation provides it with preaching materials.
The daily six-minute sermon is divided into three segments consisting of one minute of an Indonesian translation of the verses of the Koran, three minutes of analysis of the translated verses, and two minutes murotal of the verses.
Four famous Indonesian preachers including Aa Gym himself, Ihsan Tandjung, M. Arifin Ilham, and Didin Hafiduddin, have been selected to present the sermons.
Each preacher presents different themes. Each verse is analyzed differently by the four preachers according to the main themes they have selected.
Aa Gym, for example, offers The Spirit of the Koran in Your Life as the main theme of his preaching, Ihsan Tandjung offers the theme Knowing the Essence of the Al-Qur'an in Daily Life, M. Arifin Ilham presents The Daily Dzikr (remembering Allah) and Contemplation on the Al-Qur'an, and Didin Hafiduddin offers A Thematic and Practical Interpretation of Al-Qur'an.
Subscribers are free to choose from either of the four as their daily preacher. A single registration costs a monthly subscription fee of Rp 25,000 for audio service through a call to a fixed telephone line, and Rp 30,000 for audio and short messaging service (SMS) service through cellular phones.
The SMS service provides subscribers with various information including the position of the subscribers in the AQS preaching service, hadist (Prophet Muhammad's sayings), information on the headlines of an Islamic magazine or Islamic events held by certain Muslim organizations, and optional information on the daily praying time schedule.
"A single registration basically allows a subscriber to select only one preacher, but he or she may also ask for an additional preacher by paying an additional fee of Rp 20,000 a month," AQS general manager Satriyo Abdussalam Boediwardoyo explained.
In this case, he said, the daily sermon for this kind of subscriber would be nine minutes instead of six. The subscriber, therefore, would have two different types of analysis of the same verses presented by two different preachers.
"You may also ask for a change in the selection of preachers, but we can only do so for the following month. We cannot do so at a moment's notice due to technical reasons," Satriyo said.
Although AQS has yet to be launched officially, Owensby said he planned to launch it sometime between January and February next year, depending on negotiations with a cellular phone operator company. AQS has received some 16,000 registrations so far.
"I'm sure the number is increasing, but that was the number when I last checked," Owensby said.
AQS systems manager Awik Suseno told the Post at his office in Arkadia Office Park on Jl. TB Simatupang, Jakarta, this week that the company has been receiving some 200 new applications a day, mostly via SMS.
Registration for a service from AQS can be done through either facsimile, a phone call, or SMS.
AQS service can also be obtained by customers of Excelcomindo cellular phone operator, especially during the fasting month of Ramadhan. The services offered range from information on the daily praying time schedule to information on the Prophet's life, the hadist, and a story of a day in Islamic history.
The idea of establishing AQS first come from Owensby who is a new follower of Islam. He converted to Islam only about a year ago.
"The main idea is how to make the Al-Qur'an as close as possible to its followers so that it will eventually become a significant strength in their daily lives," said Owensby.
Claiming to have been inspired by A Walk Through the Bible, a book series on the Bible, Owensby said that AQS was especially designed for busy Muslims. Audio was chosen as a medium, he said, because he recognized that most Indonesians prefer listening to reading.
"The medium makes AQS more entertaining and easier to follow," said Owensby, adding that each subscriber would need some three years to complete the entire study of all the verses in the Koran through AQS.
Citing the fact that many Indonesian Muslims do not really read the Koran, Owensby said that by understanding the Koran better, Muslims would be able to eventually change themselves, their families, communities, and finally the whole nation, for the better.
"People will begin to love each other. They will care for the poor. Corruption, drug problems, prostitution, and premanism (thuggery) will come to an end. In the end, Muslim society in Indonesia will rise into a bright light of Islam witnessed and respected by the whole world. Other nations will do the same and the world will be eventually change," Owensby said.
Owensby said he was sure such a dream was not impossible to achieve, arguing that Prophet Muhammad realized his some 1,400 years ago.
"I do believe we can realize it here in Indonesia. What we need is a hero generation or what I call a Qur'ani movement, a movement involving reading, understanding, and applying the Koran in daily life," he said.
Owensby may not be daydreaming, given that the response AQS has been receiving so far is promising, with some 200 new applications pouring in every day from throughout the country although the service is only available for callers in Greater Jakarta and Bandung for the time being.
However, Awik also revealed that AQS has been receiving only some 1,500 calls a day for the service despite the fact that there are 16,000 registered subscribers.
What has happened to the rest?